Reminders of our trip to the west coast

One of the 10 waterfalls at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon.

At the beginning of this year, when I took down the mini-calendar we had on the fridge, I noticed that the photo for Dec. was one of the waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park. The photo on the calendar was the same waterfall as the photo I took this summer when we were at Silver Falls State Park, although the photo on the calendar was taken during the winter.

I flipped to the front of the calendar and it's titled "Scenic Landscapes." As I looked through it, three of the other months used photos of places we were at this summer! There were photos from Crater Lake, Cannon Beach and the coast of northern California. When I picked the calendar last year I had no idea that we'd be going to California and Oregon that summer.

The calendar for 2011 has roosters on it...I wonder if that means something?

CALIFORNIA / OREGON RECAP

Pam and Scott with a redwood tree in "Avenue of the Giants" in nothern California

If you’ve been reading the posts as I’ve posted them, then consider this the epilogue. If you’re just now finding this blog and plan to read the entries below, consider this the prologue.

Winery in Napa Valley

We went to the west coast back in July. We flew from Dayton to Chicago to San Francisco, rented a car and drove north to Seattle, and almost three weeks after we left, we got on the plane in Seattle and our first layover was back in…San Francisco.

Here are some random notes and photos that didn’t really fit in the other posts.

Public artwork in downtown Seattle

Airplanes and Horoscopes : I’m not a big fan of flying, and the last time we’d flown was before 9/11, so taking off our shoes and opening up the carry-on with the laptop was new for us. While sitting in the Dayton airport waiting for the first leg of our trip, I was trying to distract myself by doing the crossword puzzle. Scott pointed out that my horoscope read “Get out of town with a favorite person. You both need time off to rejuvenate and refresh. Spending time outdoors replenishes your spirit.”

My ginger ale can on the flight to San Francisco. At least I hope it's ginger ale.

Local Pronunciation : Apparently we’ve been mispronouncing “Oregon” all of our lives. People who live there pronounce it “OreyGun.” I was corrected by Oregonians more than once. (And for those of you who live in the Dayton area, how do you pronounce the historic area downtown near 5th Street? Say it without thinking and you probably call it the "OreyGun" District.)

Also the river that runs through Portland is “Willamette” and rhymes with dammit, and the nice little park on the west side of Portland is “Couch” and rhymes with “pooch.”

View of the Columbia River at Bridal Veil Falls in Oregon, looking across to Washington.

Gasoline : Oregon is one of two states (that I know of) that don’t allow you to pump your own gas. The other state is New Jersey. Scott really prefers to pump his own gas, so when we visited the Columbia River Gorge area and crossed over to Washington to see Beacon Rock, we made sure to fill up the gas tank before returning to Oregon.

Does anyone know what time is it? I don't...the motel in Portland didn't have a clock.

Clocks : Maybe we’re just not that hip and maybe most travelers have cell phones or other devices that they use as alarm clocks. Two of the motels we stayed at (both in Oregon) didn’t have clocks in the room.

A few of the thousands of windmills we saw driving from
San Francisco to Yosemite.

GPS : When we reserved the rental car, there was an option to also rent a GPS unit. Since we were going to be gone for almost 3 weeks, it was cheaper to just buy a GPS unit, which I wanted anyway. We got it before we left on our trip, took it out for some test drives, and then programmed the locations of the motels we were staying in.

When we got off the plane in San Francisco and turned it on, it took about 15 minutes before it finally realized that we weren’t in Ohio anymore. I had expected this since other people have mentioned it. What I didn’t expect was that it was speaking in another language! Something screwy in the programming, or some baggage handler playing a joke?

Overall we were really glad to have the GPS, although I did still pack some state maps, which we used on occasion. The GPS had some trouble knowing exactly where we were when we were in downtown in San Francisco and when we were outside of Silver Falls she wanted us to turn on a road that was market “No Outlet.”

And as much as we loved Portland, I do wonder about the bridges. There are several bridges that cross the Willamette River which runs through downtown Portland, but there are only TWO bridges that cross the Columbia River which separates Oregon from Washington. When we were driving north to Seattle, there was an accident and traffic was backed up at one of the bridges. The GPS suggested an alternate route crossing the other bridge, but everyone else was doing that also, so that bridge was also backed up. I pulled out the state maps and the next closest bridges are 30 miles east or 30 miles northwest.

All in all it was a good trip, but it's always good to be home again.

Waterfalls in northwest Oregon

There are 2 great places to go to see waterfalls in northwest Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge and Silver Falls.

Wahkeena Falls

Columbia River Gorge : The western entrance to the Columbia River Gorge is at Troutdale, 20 minutes east of Portland. We exited SR 84 at Troutdale and followed the signs for the Historic Columbia River Highway (aka 30). It took us about 4 hours to drive the first 30-miles because we stopped to see the view lookouts and stop at 5 of the waterfalls. Most of the waterfalls can be seen from a short walk from the parking areas. The Gorge Map  was a helpful resource for this area.

Our first stop was at Vista House, an octagonal stone structure which was built between 1916-18 as a memorial to Oregon pioneers, as a comfort station for those traveling on the Historic Columbia River Highway and as an observatory.

The Vista House offers amazing views looking down the Columbia River, and also of Washington state, which is on the other side of the river.

There is a visitor’s center, a small gift shop and bathrooms at the Vista House.

Next we stopped at Guy Talbot State Park and see the first waterfall along the Historic Columbia River highway.

A trail underneath the Historic Columbia River Highway bridge leads directly to the 250’ tall Latourell Falls.

Even the many bridges along the Historic Columbia River Gorge are picturesque.

Sheppards Dell Falls is the next waterfall along the highway.

The path is short and the view is worth it.

Bridal Veil Falls is located in Bridal Veil State Park. The lower trail takes you downhill to the base falls and is about a mile round, and is a little steep coming back. There is also a short, level trail that takes you through a prairie and offers view of the Columbia River.

Wahkeena Falls is the next stop. Wahkeena is a Yakima Indian word meaning “most beautiful.”

The most well known and popular spot is Mulnomah Falls. It is very tall and picturesque, with a lovely little stone bridge part way up. There is also a large restaurant and gift shop here.

We continued on to Cascade Locks and instead of going the rest of the 50-some miles of the Historic Columbia River Highway, we took the “Bridge of the Gods” toll bridge over the river and into Washington state. We headed back towards Portland, west on highway 14 which goes parallels the other side of the Columbia River. We stopped at Beacon Rock, the core of an ancient volcano. There is a steep, mile-long trail to the top but it was getting late in the day so we didn’t hike it.

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Silver Falls State Park : this park is near Silverton, Oregon, and is an hour and a half south of Portland. It has a 9-mile trail aptly called the “Trail of 10 Falls” that takes you to 10 waterfalls. I wasn’t up for a 9-mile hike, so we started at the South Falls Lodge and walked 1 mile and back, going to what we thought might be the two more scenic waterfalls.

South Falls is 177 feet and is located fairly close to the South Falls Lodge, although the trail was steep at times. If you look close at the photo, you can see people on the trail.

You can walk behind South Falls.

Lower South Falls is 93 feet and almost a mile from South Falls.

You can walk behind Lower South Falls, also. You can see some people in the upper right corner of the photo.

To see more photos of Silver Falls, go here: Silver Falls on Flickr

To see more photos of the Columbia River Gorge, go here: Columbia River Gorge on Flickr